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Carnotaurus
Carnotaurus was a large bipedal dinosaur which lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous Period. It is a relative of other theropod dinosaurs such as Abelisaurus, Majungasaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Rajasaurus. Carnotaurus lived in Patagonia, Argentina 110 million years ago, and was discovered by José F. Bonaparte, who has discovered many other bizarre, South American dinosaurs. Its name means meat eating bull. Description Carnotaurus was a large theropod and one of the largest abelisaurs, about 8-9 meters in length, and between 2-3 tons in weight. Abelisaurids have odd features in their heads, as Carnotaurus had two large brow horns over its eyes, while its smaller relative Majungasaurus ''had highly bizarre looking knobs on its head. Abelisaurids also have very reduced forelimbs with four or five fingers. When compared to their body size, the arms of ''Carnotaurus were far smaller than even than those of'' Tyrannosaurus'' and were completely useless. It had a thick skull as well and they could have headbutted each other to display for females, a thick chest, and a thin tail.It is also characterized by its unusually long neck. The eyes of the Carnotaurus faced forward, which is unusual in a dinosaur, and may indicate binocular vision and depth perception. Carnotaurus's teeth were also very slender, and too delicate to grip struggling prey. It may have been a scavenger, or had a unique hunting strategy, like headbutting it's prey with its hard head then finishing it off. A single nearly complete skeleton has been described, including a large skin print including the entire right side of the dinosaur, showing us much about its skin. It has been found that Carnotaurus definitely had no feathers, but was covered with small boney bumps, which became larger closer to the spine. The type species Carnotaurus sastrei is the only known species, but it is related to other Abelisaurids, from Madagascar, Argentina, India, and North Africa. In Popular Culture *''Carnotaurus'' appeared in the novel The Lost World by Michael Crichton (1995) as a colour-changing chameleon-like dinosaur, but this ability is purely speculative. It also appeared in a level of the video game adaptation of the film. *''Carnotaurus'' was set to make an appearance in the movie Jurassic Park ''/// as the dinosaur approaching the characters as they search for a cellular phone within giant heaps of ''Spinosaurus dung. However this was changed to a Ceratosaurus. *The film Dinosaur features two Carnotaurus as the main antagonists, attacking a large herd of herbivorous dinosaurs. However, the Carnotaurus was much larger than the real life animal, supersized to highly exaggerated proportions, when in real life, Carnotaurus was only about as big as Iguanodon, the main dinosaur and protagonist of the Disney Picture. *At Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park, guests who ride "Dinosaur" (an attraction very loosely based on the Disney feature Dinosaur) are menaced by a large AudioAnimatronic "Carnotaurus", among other creatures. *In the Capcom game Dino Crisis 3, a Carnotaur pair gets brutally murdered by a savage, gigantic, black Tyrannosaurus, acting like a comeback after the T. rex's grizzly demise by a Giganotosaurus in Capcom's Dino Crisis 2. *''Carnotaurus'' appears in Zoo Tycoon: Dino Danger Pack.It is also present in Extinct Animals. *It can be created from DNA in Jurassic Park Park Builder. *It appears in the science fiction movie Raptor Island as the predator of the Raptors. *''Carnotaurus'' also appears in the 2011 series Terra Nova as a predator of humans. *A Carnotaurus appears in Life After Dinosaurs where it is inaccurately shown as a predator of Edmontonia (which lived in North America) and Saltasaurus. *''Carnotaurus'' appears in Bizarre Dinosaurs, where they talk about how strange this theropod looked. *It can be a playable dinosaur in the online game Primal Carnage. *Carnotaurus also has a main role in the animated film Turok: Son of Stone. Category:Large Carnivores Category:Ceratosaurs Category:Dinosaurs of South America Category:Abelisaurs Category:Theropods Category:Carnivores Category:Saurischians Category:Saurischia Category:Cretaceous dinosaurs Category:Jurassic Park (novel) characters Category:Archosaurs Category:Cretaceous animals Category:Cretaceous Period Category:Apex predators Category:Crested dinosaurs Category:Prehistoric reptiles of South America Category:Prehistoric Life